DUNLIN. 141 



rest, preen the plumage, or sleep until the ebb. The bird is 

 lethargic, deliberate, or very much in a hurry ; it is a slow and 

 systematic seeker for food, but immediately a fresh rock is 

 exposed it hurries to reach it. In flight it has a low note, a 

 whistle or pipe. As it flies a white patch is very distinct on 

 its dark wing, and when it alights, and for a second holds its 

 wings uplifted, the white under surface is very striking on so 

 dusky a bird. 



The upper parts are blackish in summer, but are relieved by 

 buff and chestnut bars and spots, and white margins to the 

 feathers. The lower back to the centre of the tail is very dark, 

 almost black, the outer tail feathers are pale brown. The 

 breast and flanks are greyish with dusky brown streaks and 

 spots ; the abdomen is white. In autumn and winter it is a 

 still darker bird, glossed with purple sheen and with leaden 

 feather edges ; the breast and flanks are mottled and streaked 

 with blackish brow^n. The plumage of the young bird differs 

 from the winter dress in the decided and neat pattern' caused 

 by the white and buff fringes, whitest on the wing-coverts, 

 buffest on head and lower back. The bill is orange at the 

 base, dark towards the tip, the legs are yellow to orange, the 

 irides blackish brown. The female is larger than the male, but 

 I have not measured in the flesh any bird so large as 875 

 inches, the length given by Saunders and Dr. Patten. Length, 

 8 ins. Wing, 5-3 ins. Tarsus, 0*9 in. 



Dunlin. Erolia alpina (Liini.). 



Not only is the Dunlin (Plate 59) the commonest bird of the 

 shore, but it is one of the most abundant British birds. It has 

 a wide range in northern Europe and Asia, and migrates in 

 winter to northern Africa and India, and in America is repre- 

 sented by a closely allied form. In the British Isles it is a 

 resident, summer visitor, winter visitor, and passage migrant, 



